Race and Ethnicity Commons^™

Dreamers: Stories Of Daca Recipients In Higher Education During The 2018-2021 Political Climate, Alicia Billini

Dissertations

Immigration has been a longstanding conversation, or debate, in American politics and society throughout history. Whether, or how much, to embrace immigrant populations into U.S. society has been a source of polarization over time, specifically as related to the handling or treatment of undocumented immigrants. A particularly acute dimension of this issue in the United States is the question of undocumented immigrants who were brought into this country as children illegally by their parents (Council on Foreign Relations, 2021). Efforts to address the needs of this unique population of immigrants have been caught between the historically and widely divergent values …

Exploring Generational Difference Of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity And Racial Identity In Liberian Immigrants And Their Children Living In The United States, Breezie J. Gibson

Dissertations

Prior literature on immigrants has focused on the impact of acculturation for groups such as Asians and Hispanic or Latinx immigrants (Orjiako & So, 2014; Sall, 2019). Compared to these two groups, the literature on Black immigrants’ experience of acculturation is scarce. In addition to the minimum visibility of Black immigrants in the acculturation literature, there is also limited knowledge relating to differences in the ethnic identity and racial identity of Black immigrants because these immigrants are often grouped monolithically with minimum attention to their diverse countries of origin. Understanding the influence of acculturation, ethnicity, and race is important because …

Journey To The Professoriate: Exploring The Career Development Of African American Male Faculty In Counselor Education, Lacretisha Danielle Mcdole

Dissertations

Much of the existing literature on African American faculty in counselor education and supervision programs focuses on the challenges that confront them as racial minorities (Bradley & Holcomb-McCoy, 2004; Holcomb-McCoy & Addison-Bradley, 2005; Thompson, 2008; Turner & Myers, 2000). Findings from recent research studies have offered ways to support and guide African American faculty in combating racial discrimination and oppression within the academy (Jones-Boyd, 2016; Robinson, 2018). However, there are gaps in the literature about the personal and environmental factors that shape African Americans’ decisions to pursue the professoriate in counselor education and supervision, and factors that contribute to their …

The Social Support Networks Of Students Who Identify As Black And Latino/A/X In Stem And Sbe Graduate Programs At Predominantly White Institutions, Kristi A. Tullis

Dissertations

Graduate students from historically underrepresented minority (URM) groups (those who identify as Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino/a/x, Native American, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders and/or Alaska Natives) encounter systemic and institutional hindrances to degree completion when enrolled in STEM doctoral programs at predominantly white institutions (Guiffrida & Douthit, 2010). Support networks have been identified as an important component for retention and success for graduate students from URM groups (Carlone & Johnson, 2007; Clewell, 1987; Johnson-Bailey, Valentine, Cervero, & Bowles, 2008; Joseph, 2012; Sweitzer, 2009). This study investigates the composition and structure of URM graduate students’ support networks, where their support comes from, in what capacity, …

The Impact Of The Advisor-Advisee Relationship Among Black And Latino/A/X Stem Graduate Students At Predominantly White Institutions, Tasia C. Bryson

Dissertations

An advisor is often the most central and powerful person influencing a student’s trajectory through graduate school (Barnes & Austin, 2009). This dissertation consisted of three articles that focused on the impact of the advisor-advisee relationship among Black and Latino/a/x students in STEM graduate programs at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) from the student perspective. Two frameworks were used to analyze data and guide the research: Black Feminist Thought (BFT) and Critical Race Theory (CRT). BFT was used to explore Black women’s experiences at Predominately White institutions as it provides an in-depth understanding of Black women’s perspectives. CRT was used when …

The Effects Of A Course Oriented In Critical Race Theory On White Counselor Trainees’ Multicultural Counseling Competence, White Privilege Attitudes, And Cross Racial Contact, Dawnielle D. Simmons

Dissertations

The current study examined the effects of a single and required Critical Race Theory (CRT)-oriented multicultural course on White, master-level counselor trainees with and without clinical experience. More specifically, the study examined differences in White counselor trainees’ responses to instruments that assessed White privilege attitudes, multicultural counseling competence, and cross-racial contact comparing trainees that had taken the required multicultural course with those who had not. Previous research suggests that when a single multicultural counseling course is a requirement of counselor training, multicultural counseling competence and White privilege awareness tend to increase. In the current study, a CRT-oriented course was used …

The Experiences Of African American Men At Predominantly White Institutions Of Higher Education, After Successfully Transferring From A Community College, Keenan King

Dissertations

African American men complete post-secondary education among the lowest rates of any other subgroup in higher education (Brooms & Davis, 2017; Farmer & Hope, 2015; Palmer, Wood, Dancy, & Strayhorn, 2014; Warde, 2008). This study focuses on addressing this problem by attempting to understand the experiences of African American men who successfully navigate a higher education pipeline from community college to a four-year, predominantly White institution (PWI). Half of all African American men enter higher education at the community college level (Villavicencio, Bhattacharya, & Guidry, 2013); therefore, community college plays a key role in shaping their experiences in higher education …

Ethnic Identity, Stress, And Anxiety In Latinx University Students At Predominantly White Institutions, Anel Arias

Dissertations

Research indicates that ethnic minority-related stressors contribute to poor mental health outcomes in Latinx university students. There are inconsistent results of the moderating role of ethnic identity in ethnic minority stress and mental health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine whether ethnic identity moderates the relationship between ethnic minority stress and trait anxiety in Latinx university students attending predominantly White institutions (PWI). The secondary purpose of this study was to explore the effects of ethnic minority stress on trait anxiety symptoms.

Participants were 256 Latinx (67.6% women, n = 173; 31.3% men, n = 80) undergraduate and …

Between Two Worlds: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Experiences And Understandings Related To Race For Black Transracially Adopted Emerging Adults, Kyrai Antares

Dissertations

The current study provides a rich description of experiences and understandings related to race for transracially adopted Black emerging adults who were raised in Michigan or Ohio by White parents. Current adoption policy requires that race not be considered as a factor in foster and adoptive placements, and there is no required multicultural, race-focused training for White adoptive parents of children of color. This study begins a new line of research looking closely at the stories of transracial adoptees of a specific age group, racial identity, and geographical location of upbringing. The intention is to gain a better understanding of …

Politically And Historically Bound: Examining Whiteness And Intersectionality Among Self-Identified Feminists, Olivia M. Mclaughlin

Dissertations

This dissertation examined the perspectives and beliefs of 23 self-identified feminists who are White. Specifically, it explored whether—and if so, to what extent—Whites have adopted intersectionality. Intersectional feminism refers to the activism and scholarship that recognizes the multi-dimensional nature of power and privilege and stands in contrast to the white-centered feminism that has dominated most feminist spaces since the suffrage movement. Since Kimberlé Crenshaw’s seminal article where the concept of intersectionality was formally introduced to the academy, feminist scholars have characterized the most recent wave of feminism as the intersectional wave. This third, intersectional wave of feminist movement is believed …

At The Crossroads Of Race, Class And Culture: Identifying The Unintended Consequences Of Technology On The Agency Of Blues Musicians, Michael D. Berghoef

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the impact the rapid evolution and implementation of technology has had on blues musicians and the music they created and shared with their audiences over the past sixty years. The past 150 years have seen the conversion of nearly all musical participation as live, unmediated and with close proximity of performer to audience, to an experience that is increasingly recorded, digitally mediated and often listened to in isolation from others.

While a great deal of live music is still performed around the world on a daily basis, the impact of the largescale cultural shift move to what …

The Influence Of Feedback On Implicit Bias In A Sample Of Primarily Caucasian Women Counselors-In-Training, Branson L. Boykins

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine whether bogus cultural feedback influenced the presence of implicit racial bias in the clinical judgment of counselors-in-training. Participants were 193 master’s-level counselors-in-training, in which the majority were Caucasian women (57%). Three hypotheses guided the study. The first hypothesis focused on the influence of priming positive and negative feedback about cultural attitudes on a clinical case, regardless of the race or clarity of the case. The second and third hypotheses both focused on racial bias by examining the interaction between type of feedback, race, and ambiguity of diagnosis on participants’ clinical impressions of …

The Rwandan Diaspora In Canada And The United States: Reconciliation And Justice, Jennifer J. Marson

Dissertations

This dissertation analyzed the attempts at achieving justice and reconciliation among the Rwandan diaspora located in Canada and the United States. Following the 1994 Rwandan genocide, many Rwandans fled and a modest diaspora found a home in various locations throughout Canada and the United States. The diaspora, located thousands of miles from the institutional mechanism of justice and reconciliation in Rwanda, are subject to many of the same concerns regarding justice and reconciliation as those who remain in Rwanda. This research focused primarily on how this specific diaspora attempted to achieve justice and reconciliation, if institutional mechanisms (gacaca) in Rwanda …

Seventh-Day Adventists And ‘Race’ Relations In The U.S.: The Case Of Black-White Structural Segregation, Cleran Hollancid

Dissertations

A worldwide Christian denomination of some eighteen million in global membership, and with a presence in over 200 countries and territories (i.e., in just about every country on the globe), the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church is one with a distinctive arrangement in the U.S., insofar as it concerns its racial segregation practice. The SDA Church professes and preaches unity in the pulpit, as in all members being equal and one in the faith, yet the actual practice says otherwise. Such is the case since it is officially segregated along black-white lines.

The segregation arrangement, essentially a black-white schism, falls …

A Phenomenological Approach Examining The Completion Of Latino High School Students Through The Lenses Of Critical Race Theory, Anna M. Rangel-Clawson

Dissertations

Latino students represent 24% of the American student population (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2002, 2013). Dropout rates for Latino students living in severe poverty are twice the dropout rate of other Americans at the same income level (National Center Educational Statistics, 2002, 2013). The strongest factor that influenced those who choose to drop out seems to be related to a family’s socioeconomic status (Fry & Taylor, 2013; Rumberger & Lim, 2008; Swanson, 2004).

This study sought to elicit the voices of Latino students who successfully completed high school in a school district with significantly lower graduation rates for Latinos …

Tongues Untied Truth Revealed: Body Image, Social Media, Identity Development, And Meaning-Making In Overweight And Obese Black Gay Msm, Amari Ja-Lynn Enam

Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored the meanings attributed to internalized messages about body image within the context of identity development from the perspectives of overweight/obese men of African descent (OMAD) among a group of 6 men who have sex with men (MSM). I was interested in those messages that have been incorporated, adopted, or integrated into OMAD-MSM’s sense of self. Informants shared body image-related experiences from interactions with family, friends, dating/sex partners, and the media/social media.

Academic literature has explained identity development processes among African Americans through various lenses but research has not adequately explored the convergence of multiply oppressed social …

Missing Pieces: How Neighborhood Health Context Influences Jail Reentry, Andrew Gregg Verheek

Dissertations

This study explores how neighborhood context influences the odds of reoffending by those released from incarceration at a local jail facility. Using data from four sources, I seek to contribute to the understanding of reentry by including two factors missing from current theoretical and empirical work on inmate recidivism. First, using a social disorganization perspective, I include measures of neighborhood health to gain an understanding of how increased substance abuse, mental health, and physical health issues among neighborhood residents impede the development of social capital and informal control that are crucial to the reduction of recidivism. Additionally, I examine jail …

"Sí Se Puede" Latino Students Can Succeed In School: A Success Case Method Study, Manuel J. Brenes

Dissertations

In public schools about one fourth of the students identify themselves as Latinos or of Hispanic origin. Unfortunately of those Latino children who began at the elementary level, only 40% of them will graduate from high school and about 11% of high school graduates will go on to postsecondary school. In order to improve these numbers, educators and policymakers cannot ignore the needs of this marginalized population.

This study focused on protective and risk factors that influence Latino student’s academic success and continuation into postsecondary school. This study furthermore explored how the Success Case Method (SCM), an evaluation technique used …

Examining The Role Of Research Mentoring In Predicting Research Self-Efficacy Among Minority Professional Psychology Doctoral Students, Donald Edward Knight

Dissertations

The involvement of racial/ethnic minority doctoral students in the conduct of psychological research is of significance in meeting the mental health challenges of an increasingly diverse US population. However, scant empirical evidence exists regarding the mentored research experiences and resulting increases or decreases in confidence these students encounter in conducting research. The purpose of this study is to examine predictors [i.e., Research Mentoring Experiences (RME), perceptions of the Research Training Environment (RTE), and Interest in Research (IRQ)] of research self-efficacy among a sample of racial/ethnic minority PhD students in APA-accredited clinical and counseling psychology programs. The study is guided by …

Influences In The Platonic Same-Sex Friendships Of Heterosexual Black Males, Darian Mitchell

Dissertations

This study sought to examine potential influences of intimacy levels in the same-sex friendships of Black males. Attention was given to adherence to traditional masculine norms, age, socioeconomic status, religious support, and adult male presence as potential influences. One hundred and thirty-nine Black males completed a survey consisting of a demographic questionnaire, the index of Emotional Intimacy in Same-Sex Friendships (EISSF), the Religious Support Scale (RSS), the Barratt Simplified Measure of Social Status (BSMSS), and the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI). This study found a minimal positive relationship between emotional intimacy and the hypothesized influences.

Personality And Religiosity: The Influence Of Normative Personality On Black Sunni Muslims' Religious Attitudes And Practices, Halim Khidher Naeem

Dissertations

There is a dearth of literature on Black Sunni Muslims in the field of psychology. More so, there is no literature specifically analyzing the influences upon Black religiosity. The literature has established that personality has significant influence upon religiosity. The literature also says that females are more religious than their male counterparts. The present study analyzed the influence of personality, gender and social class upon religiosity for Black Sunni Muslims. The following hypothesis was investigated: Personality, gender, and social class will affect religious attitudes and practices.

A canonical regression analysis using SPSS revealed that personality, gender and social class had …

Does Understanding The Kalamazoo Promise Impact African American Participation?, J. Douglas Penn

Dissertations

Since 2006, all of the public school graduates in Kalamazoo Michigan have been entitled to have their tuition and fees paid for to any post-secondary institution in the state. The scholarship program is called the Kalamazoo Promise, and it utilizes scholarships as a means to stimulate region-wide economic vitality. The Kalamazoo public school district reflects many metropolitans in the U.S. by having a minority majority, in which African Americans make up the largest single ethnic group. This evaluation of the Kalamazoo Promise is unique in that it focuses specifically on perspectives from the African American community. 35 interviews were conducted …

Popular Perceptions Of The Relationship Between Religious And Ethnic Identities: A Comparative Study Of Ethnodoxy In Contemporary Russia And Beyond, David M. Barry

Dissertations

The relationship between religion and ethnicity is well documented. However, previous studies have usually approached the relationship by focusing on the converging of two 'objective' social categories, religion and ethnicity. In doing so, the subjectivity, or the actor's own understanding of the interplay between religion and ethnicity is typically neglected. This study fills this gap by exploring popular perceptions of group identities and the affiliation with imagined ethno-religious communities. To accomplish this, the concept of ethnodoxy, first developed by Vyacheslav Karpov and Elena Lisovskaya, is applied that captures the belief that affiliation to an ethnic group's dominant religion is essential …

First-Generation, African American Students' Experiences Of Persisting At A Predominantly White Liberal Arts College, Candy S. Mccorkle

Dissertations

Generational status of students is one of the variables that colleges and universities are starting to track and study in order to gain a better understanding of its impact on retention and persistence of students. This phenomenological study provides narrative from five first-generation, African American students who attend a predominantly White liberal arts college in the Midwest; their stories provide a snapshot of how they experienced college, made meaning of those experiences and the impact of these experiences and meaning-making on their motivation to persist in college. These five students participated in individual audio-taped interviews that were analyzed and coded. …

Social Justice, White Racial Identity, And Multicultural Competency Among White Master Level Trainees In Counselor Education And Counseling Psychology, Sara Rebecca Streufert

Dissertations

In recent years, scholars have become more vocal regarding counselors and counseling psychologists’ responsibilities to advance efforts for social change (Goodman et al., 2004; Speight & Vera, 2004; Vera & Speight, 2004). As a result, empirical investigations have started to evaluate variables that may contribute to trainees and mental health professionals’ desire to participate in social justice advocacy (Beer, 2008; Caldwell, 2008; Landreman et al., 2007; Nilsson & Schmidt, 2005). However, most of these studies do not focus on trainees and mental health professionals who identify as White. The present study used quantitative analyses to explore nine hypotheses regarding the …

Stop Snitching: Hip Hop's Influence On Crime Reporting In The Inner City, Ladel Lewis

Dissertations

The “stop snitching” phenomenon is a social epidemic that is affecting inner cities from coast to coast. These street politics have an adverse effect on the way individuals in the inner city view cooperation with police. With hip hop culture claiming a larger stake on the global stage, and mainstream artists sparking attention by denouncing cooperation with authorities while reproving others that choose to do so, this research examines if a relationship exists between individuals that adhere to the “code of silence” and self-professed hip hoppers. While much has been written about the significance of hip hop culture on the …

In Their Own Words: The Lived Experiences Of Unemployed African American Men, Kenlana R. Ferguson

Dissertations

Due to staggering unemployment rates, African American men's experience with work in the U.S. has historically received widespread attention in the media and social science literature. Terms such as black male unemployment crisis, puzzle, epidemic and catastrophe have been used to describe the unemployment woes of black. Attempts at explaining why African American men are experiencing such difficulty in the world of work has been undertaken across the disciplines, however much of this work has amounted to nothing more than acknowledgement that isolating independent factors as causes does not suffice and that a more interdisciplinary framework is needed if we …

The Impact Of Structured Group Counseling On Resiliency, Self-Efficacy, And Racialidentity Among African American Female Teenagers, Lashonda B. Fuller

Dissertations

African American female teenagers are at-risk for low academic achievement as well as personal and social problems. These concerns have the potential to impact their psychological development including resiliency, self-efficacy, and racial identity. This is an issue that needs focused attention. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to determine if a structured group counseling model effectively impacts African American female teenagers‟ resiliency, self-efficacy, and racial identity. The researcher conducted four structured counseling groups over a period of 20 weeks; however, the teenagers participated in consecutive 10 week sessions. The treatment was applied to two groups simultaneously, and the groups …

What Role For Ethnicity? Political Behavior And Mobilization In Post-Conflict Sierra Leone And Liberia, Fodei Joseph Batty

Dissertations

This dissertation examines political behavior in Sierra Leone and Liberia following the end of their civil wars. Dominant theories on politics in African societies suggest that ethnic interests underpin political behavior and elections are mere censuses of ethnic support for co-ethnic party elites. Yet, while using a proportional representation electoral system that is expected to result in splintered vote shares for multiple political parties, Sierra Leone's elections in 2002 concentrated votes around one presidential candidate and political party. Conversely Liberia's elections in 2005, held using a first-past-the-post electoral system that expectedly discourages multiple vote shares, diffused votes among several political …

The Heterosexual Mother-Lesbian Daughter Relationship: Using Consensual Qualitative Research (Cqr) To Understand Perceptions Among Predominately White, Formally Educated Mothers, Julie Meredith Davis

Dissertations

Little research specifically addresses the heterosexual mother-lesbian daughter relationship. Given this, a core research team of six utilized a Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) approach to gain insight into two broad ideas. The first broad idea was about how heterosexual mothers perceive that their relationship with their lesbian daughters unfolds after the mothers accepted their daughters' minority sexual orientation. The second broad idea was how changes in the heterosexual mothers' values, beliefs, and attitudes (from the mothers' perspectives) influenced their postacceptance relationship with their daughters. The 10 women who agreed to participate in the study were predominately white, formally well-educated, psychologically …